Lydia and the Dragonborn
by Chicken Slayer
Summary: Just how I feel the story line might seem to Lydia. I hope you like it and the summary doesn't do it justice. First fanfic and rated T for future violence and language. Male Dragonborn/Lydia
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first fic and I hope you like it, I will warn you the Dragonborn doesn't do much in this chapter, it's more of just ****explanatory and He will do more in the following chapters. Everything's in Lydia's POV.**

It had been so long since I'd felt real fear, even when I'm sent out with the guard to clear out some bandit's nest, I'm not truly afraid. But as I watch the smoke climb higher in the sky, billowing up from the Western Watchtower, I feel scared again, all the tales of dragons and Dragonborn I was told as a child flashed through my mind. I push open one of the great doors to Dragonsreach and hurried to Jarl Balgruuf, who is sitting quietly on his throne, his hands clasped together in front of his face.

"What is it Lydia?" he asks me slightly exasperated. His calm is unnerving and I stumble over my words, trying to explain to him why he shouldn't be calm.

"Th-the Western Watchtower..." I trail off, looking to his steward for support but finding none.

"I am aware of the predicament and have dispatched Irileth and her men to slay the dragon." He said calmly.

"Will that be enough?" I ask him hurriedly. He seemed like he was thinking something over and I was worried that he didn't seem more concerned.

"I also sent with them a dragon expert and I am confident in their abilities." He told me slowly. It was here that Farengar Secret-Fire, the court wizard spoke up.

"I would hardly call him an expert." Farengar protested.

"He has already survived one dragon attack, can you say the same?" Balgruuf questioned Farengar. The wizard closed his mouth and sulked back into his quarters. The fear of dragons had momentarily subsided replaced by a sudden interest in this "expert."

"Who is he?" I asked the Jarl, and his attention turned back to me.

"You have probably already heard of him, as I understand it he was recently accepted into the Companions." The Jarl told me. I had heard of some newcomer joining the Companions, but no real description and I hadn't seen him. All these thoughts flying around my head, I began to paint a picture of this man in my head. A tall, muscular Nord with flowing blonde hair and a large, rich beard. In my mind he wears thick steel armor that would make a lesser man fall to the ground and slung across his back would be a greatsword large enough to lop off a dragon's head with one swing. At that moment, the doors burst open and Irileth rushed in.

"Farengar, come quick!" She called out, she sounded almost worried. I ran down the stairs to meet her and see what happened. "Lydia, you come too." she said and I followed her out the doors with Farengar and Jarl Balgruuf close behind. On the walkway outside the doors were two figures, one was lying on the ground and seemed badly wounded, the other was kneeling over him, checking and rechecking his pulse. As I drew closer I saw that the kneeling figure was wearing strong leather armor and a hood. I turned my attention to the man on the ground, Irileth and I lifted him up, and carried him inside with Farengar following us, preparing healing spells. We laid the man down on Farengar's bed and stepped back as Farengar attempted a healing spell. I finally got a good look at the man and saw that he was a wood elf with white hair tied up behind his hair, but it was singed on the edges and his face was covered in cuts and soot. I wondered who he was. Could he be this expert? I asked Irileth.

"No that's not him. That's his companion." Irileth told me.

"What happened to him?" I asked her.

"He pushed me out of the way of the dragon's fire and took the full blow himself. Damned fool, he wasn't even wearing any armor." She said, and turned away slightly. If I hadn't known Irileth for many years, I would have thought she was ashamed, embarrassed even.

"How did he survive that?" I asked.

"Malachi had a healing potion on him and it kept him alive until we got him here." She told me. I looked at her blankly, and she clarified. "Malachi is that new Companion." I nodded and turned to look at the wounded elf again. Irileth said something about going to talk to the Jarl and left the room. Farengar followed, mumbling about having to make a potion for him. That left me and this elf. I crouched down next to him and studied his injuries. He had burns up and down his left side. I reached down to touch one and he flinched and his eyes shot open.

"Ma-Malachi." he gasped, his eyes flying around the room, searching and falling on me. "Where's Malachi?" he panted.

"With the Jarl, he's fine." I told him, "What's your name?" I asked him.

"F-Faendal." He sputtered out, "The dragon?" he asked me.

"Dead." I told him, at least I hoped so. He looked reassured by this and his head fell back onto his pillow and his eyes closed. I checked his pulse, it was slow and his breathing was shallow. It was at this point that Farengar reappeared and was carrying a strange clear potion.

"What's that?" I asked him, it didn't look like any healing potion I'd ever seen.

"It's going to... ease his passing." Farengar said and my eyes widened with realization.

"But..." I started and trailed off.

"There's nothing I can do, he's too badly injured. All I can do is keep him from hurting." Farengar explained. I nodded and stepped back to give Farengar room to work. I turned away, not wanting to see him administer the potion. "It's done." Farengar said and stood over the body. "I'll go get the priestess." He said and walked out. Suddenly everything shook, as if it were an earthquake, and I fell to my knees. I got to my feet and ran out into the throne room. There I saw the figure in the leather armor on his knee in front of Jarl Balgruuf, and the Jarl was resting his ax on the man's shoulder. He was being made a Thane. I made my way over to them to introduce myself to this new Thane.

"Ah, and I will appoint Lydia to be your personal Housecarl." The Jarl said as he saw me approach. I stopped in my tracks and looked at the man on his knee. He looked over to me and stood. This must be Malachi. Not quite as muscular as I was expecting, but he was at least taller than me. I also notice the lack of steel armor and greatsword. Instead he wore black leather armor and carried an elven bow and a quiver of elven arrows over his back. At his side he carried what was either a very long dagger or a short sword. He pulled back his hood to reveal a head of shaggy, dirty blond hair. It came down to the nape of his neck and somehow managed to stop short of impairing his eye sight. His jaw was strong but not wide and it matched the rest of his face, but what really stuck out was his seemingly luminescent blue eyes. He extended a hand to me and managed a smile.

"Hello, I'm Malachi."

**Well, here we are. I hope you leave a review so I know to continue. Favorite if you want, follow if you really liked it but otherwise just let me know what you thought. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hey, sorry it took soooo long to update but life got in the way and I just wanted to thank those that fav'd and reviewed and everyone that enjoyed the first chapter. I hope this one is received as well as the first chapter and don't worry it's longer and I should have a third chapter up quicker than I got this one up. Thanks and I hope you enjoy Lydia and the Dragonborn chapter 2 **

Malachi personally oversaw Faendal's burial and it was nearly a whole day before he came back to Dragonsreach. In that time, I found out everything I could about him, I heard all kinds of stories, tales of his accomplishments and deeds. Ysolda told me the story of how he slew a mammoth and retrieved its tusk for her. Fralia Grey-Mane told me of how he saved her son from the clutches of the Thalmor. Armen told me how Malachi retrieved his father's sword for him and the stories go on. I was in awe of how a single man could do such a thing and not look like the Nords of legend. I was talking with Irileth about his actions at the Western Watchtower when the doors to Dragonsreach swung open and he walked in, the huge doors slamming behind him from their own weight. It was dark out, probably about midnight and he walked up to us with a cheery smile on his face.

"Hello ladies." He greeted us. And smiled at us, it was too cheery, I wanted to smack it off of him.

"Welcome back, my Thane." I greeted him instead of smacking him.

"You've been gone a while." Irileth told him, her normal tone of annoyance abated and instead she almost sounded... content.

"Yeah, I had a lot of arrangements to make, first with Faendal's funeral and then there's the trip to High Hrothgar." he told her. That's right, among all the other stories I'd been hearing, the one that kept coming up was the fact that he was this mythical "Dragonborn." I hadn't paid it much thought but here he was saying he was going to speak with the Graybeards up on the mountain. "So Lydia," He said turning to me, "If I were you, I'd try and get some rest. It's going to be a long trip tomorrow." that stunned me.

"To-tomorrow?" I stuttered, of all the things I'd heard this shocked me the most. "You're not staying for Faendal's funeral?"

"I can't, I have some pressing matters to attend to." He said and then walked off toward a room that the Jarl had made up for him. "So get some sleep!" He called over his shoulder and disappeared up the stairs. I said goodnight to Irileth and made my way to bed. I got out of my armor and crawled into my warm bed. I quickly drifted off to sleep and dreamed of the stories I'd heard that day.

_I'm running down the stone path toward the Western Watchtower. I'd seen the flames and smoke and so I ran down here to try and help. I think I'm a guard, I look down at myself and see that I'm wearing guard's armor. Yeah, definitely a guard. I reach the Watchtower and I nearly fall to my knees in fright, a Dragon is flying overhead and breathing fire onto the other guards trying to fight it. The beast hovers over the guards and inhales, about to blast them with fire, but it's stopped short. An elven arrow shoots through the air and pierces the beasts skin. It shrieks and searches for the source of the arrow. There on top of the Watchtower is Malachi, holding his elven bow. The Dragon lets out a roar and soars into the air, but Malachi holds hid ground and draws back his bow again. The Dragon tries to get close to Malachi, but he just looses arrow after arrow into the Dragon. The beast flies around overhead and roars in pain and anger, but Malachi doesn't let up and fires an arrow that buries itself deep in the Dragon's neck. The dragon falls from the sky, and crashes onto me with a tremendous weight and everything goes dark._

I shoot up in my bed. I look out my window and see that the sun is still low in the east; I'd guess it's about five in the morning. I begrudgingly leave the warmth of my bed and slug on my armor. I make my way into the great hall and I'm greeted with the sight of Jarl Balgruuf, Proventus and Irileth seated around Malachi at one of the twin tables. I've been in the service of Jarl Balgruuf for most of my adult life and I've only seen him up this early once before and that was when the white-gold concordat was signed. Malachi must have said something very funny because all three of them began to laugh. Even Irileth was trying, and failing, to hold back her own laughter, while Balgruuf and Proventus filled the empty hall with booming laughter. I make my way over to see that Malachi still carried the Elven bow and quiver, as well as the half sword but he had changed his armor. He had apparently ditched the thin black and red leather armor for a thicker brown armor that I recognized at once. I had spent my teen years in Riften with my mother and she had warned me to stay away from those in the brown armor. The Thieves Guild armor. I wanted to attack him, or at least reveal him to Jarl Balgruuf, but I couldn't, I was his housecarl. Even if I did reveal this to the Jarl, Malachi had just saved the hold from a dragon and the Thieves Guild was in Riften, not Whiterun, so he probably wouldn't have done anything. I made my way over to them, Malachi saw me approaching and stood with that smile that made me want to smack him. Too cheery, I don't like it. In the four days that I have been Malachi's housecarl things have stopped making sense.

"Lydia! You're finally awake, are you ready to go?" he asked me. It sounded like he genuinely cared, but I wasn't sure if it was just a formality so I just told what I figured he wanted to hear.

"Yes, I'm ready." He smiled again and this time I caught a glimpse of his teeth, something about them seemed... off. He started to move, then stopped as if he remembered something and jogged off into the large kitchen area. He reemerged moments later carrying two large sacks over his back and a third small knapsack hanging from his teeth. He walked up to me and handed me the first of the two sacks. I took it and slung it over my back, it was heavier than I thought it would be, Malachi may not look it but he is still very strong. Then he took the small knapsack from his teeth and handed that to me as well.

"You didn't get to eat yet so I grabbed that for you, should have an apple, some bread and some cheese." He turned to Jarl Balgruuf and added, "I hope it's okay that I took that."

"Are you joking, it is the least I could do for you my friend." The two clasped hands and we said our goodbyes to the three of them. We made our way out of Dragonsreach and soon we were at the stables outside of Whiterun. I noticed that we were alone and the stable hands hadn't woken up yet, so I took advantage of the privacy to confront this mysterious new Thane.

"Hold up a minute," Malachi stopped moving and turned to face me. "I want to talk about some stuff." He looked at me with an air of confusion and hesitation.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"First and foremost, the armor." I told him with a gesture at his chest. His eyebrows scrunched together and then he looked himself over.

"What's wrong with it? I thought it looked cool." He said and started to play with a pocket flap on his chest. I just stared at him dumbfounded, did he really not know or was he just playing stupid.

"Well I'll tell you what's wrong with it, that's Thieves Guild armor and I'd like to know how you came to be wearing it." He snapped to attention and stared at me, an emotion flicked across his bright blue eyes faster than I could comprehend. It might have been confusion, or surprise, but I could have sworn it was fear. Whatever it was, it was gone in a flash and replaced with realization. He made a silent 'oh' and then smiled at me.

"Oh no, I got this off of a thief that tried to jump me on the way here." He explained. I gave him a suspicious look, but I let it slide.

"Okay, also, about this whole 'Dragonborn' business."

"Yeah, what about it?" he asked defensively.

"I don't buy it." I told him bluntly. He seemed a little taken aback by this.

"O-okay. I hope you understand that doesn't change the fact that we're going to climb the thousand steps to High Hrothgar and answer the Grey Beard's summons anyway." He told me. I don't know why but when he said that it almost made me respect him. Well obviously I have respect for his abilities, his deeds speak for themselves, but the tenacity he displayed when he said that... I can't help but feel a little respect for him as a person. Whether I want to or not. I smiled at him.

"Alright, let's get going. Where's your horse?" I asked. He simply smiled as he brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled loud. A moment later a large black horse galloped into view and strutted up to us. Its mane was as black as the night sky and its eyes blazed a red fire, I was in total awe of the magnificent beast before me. Malachi walked up to his horse, patted it once and then... placed the large sack he was carrying over the saddle. He took the sack I was carrying and threw that onto his horse as well. The steed took the added weight without trouble or complaint. Malachi grabbed the reins of the horse and began to walk with it down the path. For the second time in five minutes I stared at my new Thane with a look of bewilderment. He seemed to notice that I wasn't following and stopped again to turn to me.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked innocently.

"You aren't going to ride him?" I asked my own question, pointing at the glorious steed that he had saddled like some common donkey. He looked from the horse to me and even the horse managed to give me a queer look, as if I was the one being strange.

"Ride Shadowmare?" he asked, as if for clarification. "Oh no, Shadowmare hates it when I ride him, that's only if we need a quick getaway will he allow it." I looked from him, then to Shadowmare, who seemed to nod in agreement. "The only reason he's even carrying our food sacks is out of politeness." Malachi continued. I gave them another five seconds of astounded staring before I shrugged it off. Things had gotten so weird lately, it's becoming easier to just try and ignore the irregularities. There was a crash of thunder and rain drops started to fall lightly and slowly they picked up speed. Malachi turned his back to me and pulled up his hood over his shaggy dirty-blonde hair. "Come on, we'd better get moving." he called over his shoulder. He grabbed Shadowmare's reins and led him down the path. He looked over his shoulder and I saw the profile of his face. One eye gleamed out from the darkness and even though I couldn't see it I knew he was smiling. "We've got a long road ahead of us."

**So, what'd you think? Like it, love it, hate it? I wont know unless you tell me. I want honesty if you don't like something let me know and I'll see if it's something I'm willing to change. If you really liked something but didn't think there was enough of it, let me know. This being a Saturday for me, I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. I love yo faces and I will see you next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: See? not nearly as long a wait, and this one's about twice as long as the last one. This was originally going to be two chapters but I figured if I waited to upload the second half I would forget about it and that didn't work out well last time. Anyway, hope you enjoy it.**

**Warning: I feel this chapter earns its rank as "T" for descriptive violence and yadda yadda yadda, on with the show!**

The rain didn't let up as we moved into Riverwood. Malachi almost seemed to enjoy it, I didn't care much for it, but Shadowmare down right hated it. As we crossed the bridge and came up to Riverwood, a guard patrolling the entrance gave us friendly wave, which Malachi happily reciprocated. We walked through the streets and were drawing friendly glances from everyone around us. A dirt covered Nord with orange hair came over and offered to let Malachi buy him a drink at the inn. Malachi smiled and gave him a septim. A little girl came up to us and asked Malachi if he wanted to play hide and seek. He told her no but maybe some other time. Everyone was so happy to see him and couldn't wait to come up and greet him.

"Why is everyone so happy to see you?" I asked him, eying them all suspiciously. I had lived all of my life in Skyrim and I've never encountered this many people all being so friendly.

"I've helped out this town quite a bit recently. I guess I've got a bit of a reputation amongst the towns people." He stopped outside of a small store and looked at the door for a while. "there's something I have to do here, it wont take long." He said, and walked over to Shadowmare. He rifled through one of the bags on Shadowmare's back and pulled out a scorched hunting bow. Malachi walked over to the door of the store all the humor gone from his face.

"D-do you want me to come in with you?" I asked him, trying to be of some use in this suddenly serious situation. He simply shrugged in reply. I followed him into the store and saw a sign with the words 'Riverwood Trader' painted on it. As we walked in I saw a beautiful young woman cooking something over a fire and a man behind a counter, leaning over it. He looked up when he saw us enter, and a smile spread over his face.

"Malachi!" the man called cheerfully and the young woman turned around and smiled. The man came out from behind the counter and shook hands with Malachi.

"Nice to see you again, Lucan." Malachi greeted the man. The young woman smiled at Malachi, and then eyed me curiously, I returned the favor.

"What have you been up to?" Lucan asked.

"Not too much, just trying to help out where I could in Whiterun." he told him modestly. The man killed a dragon, went questing with the Companions and has just about the entire city groveling at his feet and he calls that 'just helping out?' This guy was unbelievable. I wanted to say something but instead decided to just roll my eyes at him. Lucan's attention fell on me.

"And who's this lovely lady?" He asked.

"This is Lydia, my housecarl, she'll be questing with me." He introduced me. I reached out my hand and shook Lucan's extended one in greeting.

"It's nice to meet you." I told him with a smile. It was at this point that the young woman finally spoke up.

"What happened to Faendal?" she asked us. "I thought he was coming back with you." The small smile on Malachi's face disappeared and was replaced with a somber look.

"That's what I came to tell you about, Camilla." he held up the scorched bow and handed it to her. She slowly took it from him and confusion filled her face. "A Dragon attacked Whiterun, he fought valiantly but..." he trailed off. He didn't need to say more, Camilla understood and began to weep. Lucan rushed to her side and brought her into a hug. "I'm sorry." Malachi told them weakly.

"It's okay." Lucan said to his sister and to us. "I think you should go, maybe come back some other time." Malachi nodded and we headed back out. The rain had started to die down and was now only a drizzle. We continued down the road until we came to a blacksmith's forge. A hard voice called out to us and Malachi stopped in his tracks.

"Hadvar?" Malachi called out, we turned in time to see a strong, clean shaven man in Imperial armor come jogging over to us. "Hadvar, it's nice to see you again."

"I can say the same for you, my friend." he agreed.

"No lollygagging." a guard warned us as he passed by. I make a rude gesture behind his back as Malachi and Hadvar continue.

"I see you managed to get the Jarl's aid." Hadvar said, referring to the guard that had just passed.

"It wasn't that hard." Malachi told him with a smirk, "He just needed some persuasion." Hadvar smiled and looked over at me.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met. I'm Hadvar." He said and extended a hand to me.

"I'm Lydia, Malachi's housecarl." I told him and shook his hand.

"Well Lydia," Hadvar said, "You couldn't have been assigned to a better man, did you know that if it weren't for Malachi, I'd have died in a hole underneath Helgen."

"Oh come on," Malachi protested, "I'm sure you would have made it out on your own."

"Well I'm just glad I'll never have to find out." Hadvar said, "Come, say hello to my uncle, he'll be happy to see you." We allowed Hadvar to lead us over to the forge and to the man working there. He was an older man, with long hair and a longer beard. He wore a blacksmith's apron and appears to be sharpening something on a grindstone. He stood when he saw us approaching and smiled. He opened his arms wide and took Malachi into a large bear hug. He set him down and put his hands on Malachi's shoulders.

"You smell like a wet dog." He said with a smile.

"Nice to see you too, Alvor." Malachi responded.

"It's so nice to have you back." Alvor told him with a smile.

"I'm sorry but I won't be able to stay for long." Malachi told him.

"That's quite alright, just don't be in such a hurry to leave." Alvor said.

"And why's that?" Malachi asked.

"Well, after you saved Hadvar, Dorthe had the idea to make you a little something." Alvor produced a shining golden dagger and a sheathe. "I did most of the work making it, but Dorthe helped where she could and it was her idea to make it in the first place." Malachi took the Dwarven dagger and attached the sheathe to his belt.

"This is an amazing gift, Alvor." Malachi told him, "Tell Dorthe thank you for me."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Hadvar asked, "I'm sure she's around here somewhere."

"Yeah, where is she?" Malachi asked. We all began to look around for the young girl.

"She's no doubt playing with that Frodnar boy." Alvor said.

"There she is." I said. She was standing out by the southern gate, talking to a guard.

"Dorthe." Alvor called to her. She looked up and waved at us. Then everything went to hell. A war horn was blown outside of town, and over two dozen figures could be seen charging toward us. Bandit raid. "Dorthe!" he called, scared now. Malachi wasted no time, he ran for Dorthe and stood between her and the oncoming bandits. He drew his bow and took a firing stance. Alvor followed him quickly and picked up Dorthe, running her back to the house. Hadvar and I joined Malachi as well as the three guards. That was five of us, against nearly thirty bandits that clearly thought they had the upper hand, otherwise they wouldn't be attacking. Malachi pulled back an arrow and took aim, the Elven material shining in the faint sunlight. The raiding party came over the last hill and Malachi loosed the arrow. It struck home, burying itself in a bandit's throat, the bandit faltered, stood for a moment and then fell to the ground dead. About ten of the bandits stopped at the top of the hill and drew bows of their own. The other twenty or so continued to charge. By now Hod and Alvor had joined our line of defense, as well as Sven, and Delphine. Malachi fired two arrows into the closest bandit, she fell and the others charged over her. Malachi put the bow away and pulled out his half sword, which I heard him call 'The Blade of Woe' and the dagger that Alvor had given him. Everyone drew there weapons and raised their shields if they had them. Malachi let out a war cry that sounded more like a roar and charged the oncoming bandits, the guards, Hod, Hadvar, Alvor, Sven, Delphine, and I followed suit. We clashed with the raiding party and immediately things went to hell. The guards formed a tight knit trio and slashed there way through bandits. Alvor produced a large iron war hammer and Hadvar came prepared with his imperial sword. The two stood back to back, fighting valiantly. Hod and Sven did not fair as well, armed only with iron daggers and having no armor, the two were severely outclassed. Nonetheless, the fought with ferocity and Delphine was there to back them up, she had managed to get her hands on some fine leather armor, as well as a long sword which she used to hack her foes to pieces before they could get within striking distance. I couldn't quite follow Malachi, he was moving too fast, one moment he was squaring off with one large brute, the next, the behemoth was dying on the ground and he was taking on two smaller bandits. I looked up the hill and saw what must have been their leader, he was tall enough that I might have though he had giant's blood in him. He was bald and had a long scar going down his right cheek. He wore a fine scaled armor, but no helmet. He carried a greatsword in one hand and was directing troops with the other. By the nine, this wasn't a bandit raid, this was a full on military strike. I suddenly had a bad feeling about the outcome as I squared off against a large Nord with an iron mace and a shield. He crashed his mace down on my shield and I stepped back. He moved closer and swung from the right, I ducked under it and rolled past him. My sword was drawn and as soon as my feet were under me I spun and slashed. He had anticipated this and instead of standing still, continued moving so the majority of my attack missed him, but the point of my blade opened up a long cut along his back. It hurt him, but it didn't kill him, or even slow him down. He spun on me and slammed his mace down again, I leaped back and then attacked, he blocked it with his shield, but he gave up his footing. I slipped my foot between his and kicked out on of his legs. While he was off balance I slammed into him with my shield, throwing him onto his back. I hefted my sword and stabbed down. I felt the blood spray up and the thrill of the kill. I was about to ride the high into another fight when an arrow sank into my left shoulder. I cried out and turned to see my attackers. The archers on the hill had waited for an opening to present itself, and now that most of their comrades were dead or dying, they loosed a swarm of arrows down on us. I watched as two arrows struck one of the guards, he faltered and was swarmed by some remaining bandits. The other two guards fought them off, but he was dead. The Bandit Leader blew his horn again and the few remaining bandits started to retreat, with the archers laying down cover for them. The leader calmly walked to the top of the hill as his fellows ran for safety on the other side. Our forces pulled back into the town in order to regroup. We came into town to find Orgnar and Lucan guarding the women and children. Hadvar and Alvor helped carry in Sven and Hod. Hod had a gash across his side and Sven had three arrows sticking out of him. The guards and Delphine followed them, one guard was walking with a limp and all of them had small cuts from grazing arrows or blades. Finally Malachi came in, his blades and armor dripping with blood.

"What the hell was that?" Hadvar asked when everyone had regrouped.

"That's not like any bandit raid I've ever seen." commented one of the guards.

"That bald guy on the hill must have been like some kind of general. I don't think they were trying to raid Riverwood, I think they were trying to capture it." Malachi said. He whistled and Shadowmare approached. He pulled potions out of one of the bags and distributed them amongst those who needed them. Sven and Hod would survive their wounds but they were in no condition to fight and I got the feeling that this was only the first wave. We quickly devised a strategy, the guards would man the wall and provide us with cover from the archers. Alvor, Lucan, and Delphine would guard the gate itself so that the Bandits couldn't get in. Stump, the dog, Shadowmare, and Orgnar would defend the women and children and help get them to safety if things went south. Meanwhile, Malachi, Hadvar and I would be waiting to ambush the bandits when they reached the top of the hill. I wasn't sure that the three of us could hold off against what looked to be a well organized offensive of bandits, but Malachi seemed confident. We all got to our positions and the guards were instructed not to fire until Malachi gave the word. It wasn't long before we could hear the horn being blown again, and the yells of the bandits making their way toward us. Malachi pulled out a dark purple book with weird symbols written on it. He opened it and placed one hand on the pages as he chanted something in a language I wasn't familiar with. The book turned to ash and his hand glowed with a strange purple light. He lifted his hand toward the oncoming force and fired the spell. The ball of light landed in front of them and expanded to the size of a tree. A frost atronach knelt before them, then it stood and attacked ferociously. It charged headlong into the bandits creating the perfect distraction as the three of us slowly moved to their flank.

"Now!" Malachi roared. Arrows flew from the southern wall of the town and cut down the already startled bandits. Malachi, Hadvar and I charged out of the bushes and hit their flank hard. We cut through nearly a dozen bandits when I heard the sound of ice breaking and saw the atronach fall before the bandit leader.

"Men," Called out the bandit general, "Kill the archers and anyone still in the town. I'll handle these three." The bandits that were fighting us pulled back and charged the town. Baldy turned to face us and brandished his greatsword. Hadvar charged first, the half giant parried his blow faster than I could see and with one swift kick sent him rolling down the hill. I went next, I ran at him and tried to head fake him. I leaped to his left but he saw it coming and knocked my sword away. His left hand shot out and grabbed my throat. The one hand nearly covered my entire neck and he lifted me off of the ground with ease. Everything was going dark as he raised me higher off of the ground. Suddenly there was a flash of motion and Malachi landed a hard kick in the bandit's stomach. He dropped me and rolled off of the hill and out of sight. He was down but not out.

"We'll deal with him later," Malachi told me as he helped me up, "right now, Riverwood is being overrun. I picked up my sword and made it to the bottom of the hill mostly on my own. Hadvar was waiting for us and as soon as we were both with him he rushed into town to help. The guards had come down from the wall and were fighting ferociously. Alvor, Lucan, and Delphine all had their hands full. By the looks of it, Orgnar had barricaded himself and the others in the Sleeping Giant Inn. Malachi wanted to make sure I was okay, but they needed him.

"I'll be fine, just let me catch my breath." I told him. He only nodded in reply before charging into battle. The number of bandits started to dwindle, but not before another guard fell to their blades. I was about to join the fray when a sudden sharp pain stopped me dead. The bandit leader had knocked the pommel of his sword against my head and I fell to the ground. I watched helplessly as he stepped over me and entered the fight. He caught the last guard by surprise and with one swing cut the man in half. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn't move. Malachi saw him and squared off against him. I watched as Malachi's two blades struck furiously at the man, but his large blade and strength kept him at bay. Malachi wasn't thinking, only going for the kill, not normally like him. I watched in horror as the leader knocked Malachi off his feet. He raised his blade and thrust downward. A swinging war hammer collided with the flat side of the blade, pushing it off course and the sword plunged into the dirt. Alvor swung again and this time hit the bandit leader on the shoulder. The half giant pulled his blade from the dirt and swung at Alvor who dodged under it, impressive for a man of his size and age. Alvor swung again and this time took out one of the man's knees. The bandit lashed out, but Alvor saw it coming and dodged out of his range. Alvor swung again and took out the other knee. The Bandit leader was now on his knees, his sword arm hanging limply at his side. Alvor hefted the hammer up above his head and prepared to swing it down. Faster than I thought possible, The bandit leader lunged with his sword and Alvor never saw it coming. The blade plunged deep into the man's chest and came out the other side. I vaguely heard someone crying out and then everything went dark.

I woke up on a soft bed. I sat up and saw my armor sitting on the chair across from me. I put my armor back on and stepped out of the small room. I looked around at the Inn and saw that the only other person there was Orgnar behind the counter.

"You may want to get out there." He said to me, not looking up from the mug he was cleaning.

"Why?" I ask him in what I believe is an innocent voice. He just looks at me and I can tell he's being serious. He responds with one word.

"Malachi." I hurried out the door and see three bandits with their hands tied behind their back and the bandit leader still on his knees. On the ground, the three guards and Alvor were lined up next to each other and covered with a cloth. Everyone was in a circle around the three bandits and their leader with Malachi walking around them like a wolf stalking a wounded deer. I push my way through the crowd and watch as Malachi executes the first bandit. He pulled his sword out of the man's chest and moved to the next bandit. He was a young boy, younger than Sven, and he was crying softly, Malachi knelt in front of him.

"Please." he whispered, begging Malachi for mercy.

"I watched you hurt these people and you want me to spare you?" He asked the boy, who only continued to weep. Malachi raised his sword and in a quick slash the boy's head rolled away. He moved over to the last bandit, an older man that wore heavy iron armor. "Any last words?" Malachi asked him. The old man looked Malachi hard in the face.

"Be swift, and bury me in the wilderness." Malachi nodded and removed the man's head just like he did the boy before him. Finally he turned to the bandit leader, who was positioned so that he could see all of the executions.

"You," Malachi addressed the man, "You attacked this village, hurt it's people and most importantly, you killed my friend." The bandit leader smiled and spat at Malachi.

"I'd do it again in a second." Malachi sheathed his sword and wiped the spit off his cheek.

"That," he said calmly, "is why you don't get a quick death." Malachi raised his palm to the bandit leader and sparks shout out of it, attacking the man with an awful force. The man arched back and screamed in pain. His muscles writhing and his face contorted in agony. "This, is what you deserve!" Malachi shouted and used his other hand as well shooting more sparks. The man fell to his side, twitching and jerking. He sucked in a ragged breath and continued to scream. The street was filled with a sickening blue light and screams of pain.

"Malachi!" I called to him, he didn't seem to notice. I walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to look at me, but kept up the lightning. "That's enough." I whisper to him. I looks at me as if I'd just told him the craziest thing in the world.

"Enough?" He asked, "This monster deserves worse."

"Look around you," I tell him, gesturing to the collected townspeople. They had all turned away from him, and a few were crying. "What do they deserve?" I asked him. He gave me a pleading look, then let his hands drop to his sides, stopping the lightning. The bald leader was left on the ground, twitching and drooling, his fate would be decided by the people of the town. Malachi whistled for Shadowmare and we all left together. We had lost a lot of time in Riverwood and by the time we reached Helgen the sun was starting to set. As we moved around it, I was aghast at the level of destruction. The towers were all but smoldering piles of rubble, and I could still see some smoke rising from within the walls. We were past Helgen and the sun had gone completely down and the moon shone brightly on us. We moved over to the side of the road and Malachi pulled a bedroll off of Shadowmare's back. He unrolled it and opened it. I looked around and settled down on the softest patch of dirt I could find. I looked over to see Malachi just standing there, looking at me curiously.

"Where's your bedroll?" He asked.

"I forgot to pack one." I told him casually.

"That was stupid of you." He said. I gave him a hard look.

"Thanks for pointing that out." I told him bitterly. He smiled and beckoned me to come closer with his hand.

"You can share mine." He said. I went blank, and tried to keep my voice calm.

"Th-thanks but I don't need-" I was cut off by an involuntary shiver. Dammit. I stood and walked over to him. "Fine, just this once." I told him and started to remove my armor. I stood before him in only my underclothes and rushed under the cover of the bedroll before he could get a good look. He slipped in after me and I could tell that he had taken off his armor as well. I felt my face flush as he pressed in next to me. It was silent for a moment but I spoke up. "Hey, I have a question."

"Yeah, what is it?" He asked and I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was almost asleep.

"When I woke up in the Inn, someone had taken my armor off of me." There was no response, only his slow breathing. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" I asked him. He was silent for a moment before he responded.

"Well... you looked uncomfortable." I scoffed in reply and shot an elbow back at him. It connected with the flexed muscles on his stomach and he let out a short breath. He saw the elbow coming, am I that predictable? I settled down and found that his arms slowly made their way around me. I was going to protest it, but I was cold and it was comforting. Instead I closed my eyes and settled deeper into his arms before drifting off to sleep.

**Well, what do you think? Finally got to some actual Lydia/DB romance near the end. IDK when the next chapter will be up, but I hope this is enough to sate you appetites until I return. Leave a review and tell me whatcha think. I love yo faces and I will see you next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**To show you that I haven't forgotten you, I leave you with this teaser of what is to come. I will continue hopefully in June when I'm more available. We pick up right where we left off.**

_I watched as my unit was demolished. Our commander charged at the attacker, the moonlight shinning off of his steel imperial armor. Our attacker saw him coming, his long ebony blade swung low and fast. The blade went through the commander's leg, splitting his armor like it was paper. The commander's momentum carried him past the attacker. The ebony blade came down and pinned the commander's chest to the ground. I had no idea who this strange man was, just that he was single handedly wiping out one of the Empire's best units. He pulled his sword out of the commander and stood tall, bodies of my comrades strewn about his feet. He was wearing steel plated armor that we hadn't even scratched, a helmet that covered his full face and had two long horns. It reminded me of the Daedra. He had multiple rings on his fingers and he was carrying a two handed ebony sword that glowed red when he struck an opponent. He had me petrified. I saw my last remaining comrade leap from his hiding place, sword drawn. The man's hand shot into the air and my comrade stopped in mid air, he had a faint glow about him. Great, this monster knows magic too._

_ "You waited for an opportune moment." The man's voice boomed from behind the masque. _**(correct spelling). **_"You watched idly a I slaughtered your unit, trying to save yourself." His head turned to the suspended soldier. "Well done." I could hear the smile on his voice. "You couldn't have known I use magic, if I didn't, you might have succeeded." He raised his blade and pointed it at me. "If I didn't need him to see this, I might have spared you." Suddenly the soldier shot into the air. The man shot a fireball into the air and I watched as the soldier collided with the spell. There was a huge explosion and then he was gone. The monster, for that is what he must have been, turned his attention to me. I tried to move but saw that the ice covering my body had not thawed. Before the battle commenced, the monster froze me in ice with his voice. He now tapped the ice with his sword and it all fell away. I fell to my knees at his feet, helpless to escape. I raised my head and looked into the emotionless eyes of the masque._

_ "Why?" was all I managed to say._

_ "For one simple reason." He said as he drew a small, three pointed dagger and knelt in front of me. "I needed you to see this."_

_ "Why me?" I asked. Again I could almost feel his smirk._

_ "Not you," he chuckled, and pointed a finger at my eye. "Her, the Nord woman that will be watching this through your eyes tonight." I had no idea what he was talking about. "If you'll excuse me?" he asked before, supposedly addressing the Nord woman. "Lydia, tell Malachi that I am in fact not dead, and that I'm coming for him." He raised the blade to my throat and stopped as if remembering something. "By the way, the name is Freylock. Don't forget it." Then he slit my throat and it all went dark._

I shot up in the sleeping roll. I placed my hand down where he was, searching for him. He wasn't there. I looked around frantically before I spotted him perched on a rock, surveying the road ahead. Malachi seemed to notice that I was up and hurried over to me.

"Good morning." He said cheerfully, but when he saw my face his smile dropped and he rushed to my side. In a moment, his hands were on my shoulders and he was giving me a concerned look. "Lydia, what's the matter?" I couldn't help it, I pulled him into a hug and allowed a few drops to escape my eyes. It felt good to hold him close after that dream, or rather message. After a few moments he pulled back and repeated his question. "What happened?" I was silent for a minute, wondering if it was truly a message or a horrid dream.

"Nothing." I told him after a minute, "Just a bad dream, nothing to worry about." He seemed to buy that. Besides I'm sure it was true. Nothing to worry about.

**Well, what do you think of Lydia's dream, or more importantly, the mysterious Freylock? Lydia and the Dragonborn will return June 2013**


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